On This Day in HISTORY

587 BC – The army of Neo-Babylonian Empire King Nebuchadnezzar II breaches the walls of Jerusalem after a 30-month siege, ravages most of the city, and destroys the First Temple

615 – Thirteen-year-old K’inich Janaab Pakal I becomes Ajaw (Lord) of the Maya city-state of Palenque; he will rule until 683, the longest recorded reign in the Americas

1030 – Norwegian King, Olav the Holy, falls in the battle at Stiklastað, and each year on that day, commemorated as Norway’s patron saint – Saint Olav’s Day *

1166 – Henry, Count of Champagne, born; French nephew of Richard the Lionheart, joined the Third Crusade in 1190. In 1192, he married Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem, eight days after she became the widow of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad was assassinated before he could be crowned as King). Henry became Henry I, King of Jerusalem. He died in 1197, after falling out of a palace window

1567 – One-year-old James VI crowned King of Scotland after Mary’s forced abdication

1588 – English fleet defeats the Spanish Armada at The Battle of Gravelines

Battle of Gravelines, by Nicholas Hilliard

1619 – First English legislative assembly in North America convened in Jamestown VA

1646 – Johann Theile born, German organist and composer

1742 – Isabella Graham born in Scotland, American philanthropist and educator, leader in founding the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows, the Orphan Asylum Society and the Society for Promoting Industry among the Poor

1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army

1775 – Army Chaplain Corps Anniversary * – The Continental Congress authorizes one chaplain for each regiment of the Continental Army, with pay equaling that of a captain; many militia regiments also count chaplains among their ranks

1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville born, French diplomat, historian, and political theorist; his Democracy in America is considered an early work of sociology and political science

1825 – George H. Pendelton born, U.S. Senator (D-OH), voted against the 13thAmendment, but sponsored the Pendleton Act, which requires civil service exams for federal government positions, ending the widespread patronage system of the day

1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

1846 – Sophie Menter born, German pianist and composer; one of Franz Liszt’s favorite students, a piano virtuoso noted for her electrifying playing style

1848 – The Tipperary Revolt against British rule, part of the Young Ireland nationalist movement, takes place during Irish Potato Famine, but is quickly put down by the police

1869 – Booth Tarkington born, American novelist and dramatist; won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1919 for The Magnificent Ambersons, and again in 1922 for Alice Adams

1887 – Sigmund Romberg born in Hungary, American composer-conductor of musicals and operettas; The Student Prince and The Desert Song

1894 – Clara Bow born, silent film’s “IT Girl”

1900 – King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by anarchist Gaetano Bresci

1900 – Mary V. Austin born, Australian community worker and political activist; Regional Commandant of the Red Cross Society; National Vice President of the Australian Liberal Party (1947-1976); life member of the Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship

1900 – Owen Lattimore born, American author and expert on China, especially Mongolia; his role as a consultant to the U.S. State Department was ended by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s unfounded charge that Lattimore was a Russian espionage agent

1905 – Dag Hammarskjold born, Swedish economist and diplomat; the second UN Secretary-General (1953-1961), regarded by some as the most effective Secretary-General in UN history; awarded the 1961 Nobel Peace Prize, one of only four people to be honored with a Nobel Prize posthumously, after he was killed in an airplane crash on his way to cease-fire negotiations in the Congo

1914 – First U.S. transcontinental phone call, between New York City and San Francisco

1918 – Mary Lee Settle born, American author, National Book Award for her novel Blood Tie; founder of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.

1930 – Paul Taylor born, American dancer and innovative modern dance choreographer; founder (1954) and artistic director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company; Twyla Tharp was a member of his company (1963-1965); elected in 1989 as an honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 1992

1932 – The 10th modern-era Olympic Games opening ceremonies held in Los Angeles

1932 – Nancy Landon Kassebaum born, American politician, first U.S. woman elected to a full term in the Senate (R-KS 1978-1997) without her husband preceding her in Congress; noted for co-sponsoring the bi-partisan Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act with Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy; was a strong supporter of ant-apartheid measures against South Africa in 1980s, and traveled to Nicaragua as an election observer; although she voted to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, she has since publicly stated that she regrets voting for him, expressing disappointment in his performance on the bench

1936 – Elizabeth Dole born, conservative American Republican politician; first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina (2003-2009), replacing ultra-conservative Jesse Helms; President of the American Red Cross (1991-1999)

1940 – Betty W. Harris born, African American chemist, noted for work on chemistry of explosives at the Los Alamos National Laboratory; patented a spot test for detecting 1, 3, 5-triamino-2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) in the field; worked on hazardous waste treatment and environmental remediation; American Chemical Society member

1940 – Solita Collas-Monsod born, aka “Mareng Winnie,” Filipina broadcaster, economist, academic and writer; Director General of the National Economic Development Authority (1986-1989); Professor Emeritus at the University of the Philippines School of Economics, where she has taught since 1963; member of the UN Committee for Development Planning (UNCDP – 1987-2000)

1945 – Sharon Creech born, American author of children’s novels; first person to win both the American Newbery Medal, in 1996 for Walk Two Moons, and the British 2002 Carnegie Medal, for Ruby Holler; first American to win the Carnegie Medal

1946 – Ximena Armas born, Chilean painter, who lives in Paris; notable for the symbolism and mysterious quality of her artwork

1948 – Summer Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad, held after a hiatus of 12 years caused by WWII, open in London

1950 – Jenny Holzer born, American feminist artist, neo-conceptual art, often text-based in large-scale installations making use of billboards, projections on buildings, or illuminated electronic displays

1951 – Susan Blackmore born, British writer, lecturer and broadcaster, whose fields of research include memes, evolutionary theory, psychology, parapsychology, and consciousness; best known for her book, The Meme Machine; PhD in parapsychology – her thesis was titled “Extrasensory Perception as a Cognitive Process,” but after years of experiments, she has become a skeptic

1952 – Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou born, Greek politician; Member of the European Parliament (2004-2009) with the New Democracy, part of the conservative-centrist European People’s Party coalition; was Vice Chair of the EP’s Committee on Petitions, and seated on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

1953 – Ken Burns born, American documentary filmmaker; his best-know work is his ground-breaking historical series The Civil War, but he is also known for Baseball, Jazz, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, and The Vietnam War; won multiple Emmys for The Civil War, and its music won a Grammy Award; Emmy Awards for Outstanding Series for Baseball and The National Parks; and two Academy Award nominations, for Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty

1957 – Jack Paar takes over as host of NBC-TV’s Tonight show

1958 – Gail Dines born in Britain, radical feminist and academic; Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women’s Studies at Boston’s Wheelock College; an outspoken leader of the anti-pornography campaign, founding member of Stop Porn Culture, and author of Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality

1958 – President Eisenhower signs the bill into law creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

1963 – Julie Elliott born, British Labour politician; Member of Parliament for Sunderland Central since 2010; vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women; previously a regional organiser for the Labour Party (1993-1998) and for the National Asthma Campaign and the GMB Trade Union

1963 – Peter, Paul and Mary release “Blowin’ In The Wind”

1965 – The Beatles film Help! premiere in London

1974 – The U.S. Episcopal Church ordains eleven women as priests. Initially opposed by the House of Bishops, the ordinations received approval from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in September 1976

1978 – Bidisha, born as Bidisha Bandyopadhyay, daughter of Indian emigrants; British filmmaker, broadcaster and journalist, covering international affairs, social justice issues, arts and culture, and international human rights; contributor to The Guardian and The Huffington Post, presenter for the BBC on Woman’s Hour, The Word and other programmes; author of Beyond the Wall and other nonfiction; does outreach work in UK detention centres and prisons for the English affiliate of PEN International; launched her filmmaking career in 2017, directing the short, An Impossible Poison

2005 – Palomar Observatory astronomers announce the discovery of Eris, a dwarf planet roughly the same size as Pluto, in solar orbit

2008 – U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, (R-AK), is indicted on seven felony counts of concealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts he received from a powerful oil contractor (A judge later dismisses the case, saying prosecutors had withheld evidence.)

2014 – Concussion lawsuit: NCAA to pay $70 million for head injury study, but $0 for treatment, so injured players must sue their colleges separately

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About wordcloud9

Nona Blyth Cloud has lived and worked in the Los Angeles area for the past 45 years, spending much of that time commuting on the 405 Freeway. After Hollywood failed to appreciate her genius for acting and directing, she began a second career managing non-profits, from which she has retired.
Nona has now resumed writing whatever comes into her head, instead of reports and pleas for funding. She lives in a small house overrun by books with her wonderful husband and a bewildered Border Collie.